Calling it the « Blobfish Basketball Classic » in apparent attack on Sen. Ted Cruz’s physical appearance, Kimmel is edged out by the Republican politician on…
Calling it the « Blobfish Basketball Classic » in apparent attack on Sen. Ted Cruz’s physical appearance, Kimmel is edged out by the Republican politician on the court.
After a prolonged period of smack talk from late night television personality Jimmy Kimmel, Ted Cruz had reached a boiling point. Kimmel was constantly attacking the Texan Senator during his program and on social media, the topics ranging from his support of the President to his physical appearance according to The Hollywood Reporter.
His lack of restraint showed itself even in the midst of the charitable basketball game against Ted Cruz, when Kimmel prefaced the action by asking his opponent whether he’d been practicing basketball instead of working on releasing and re-uniting the illegal aliens currently in detention facilities that has become a mainstream media focal point over the past week or so.
“Did you spend more time this week practicing basketball than trying to get those kids out of that detention center?,” said Kimmel as reported by ABC .
Shooting hoops and taking names! Sen. Ted Cruz beats Jimmy Kimmel in charity basketball game pic.twitter.com/0DSk2p6OaE
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 17,2018
All of the smarmy chatter in the world wasn’t enough to lend Kimmel an edge over the Republican senator, with Cruz defeating Kimmel by a score of 11-9. The game was held at the basketball court of Texas Southern University, in Houston.
Each basket was worth a single point in this special game for charitable causes. Kimmel elected to play in support of Texas Children’s Hospital, and Cruz chose Generation One as his charity. With Cruz having won the contest, the prize money will be donated to Generation One, however, all fans in attendance were encourage to donate freely to their own charities of choice.
The match was initially set after the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host roasted Ted Cruz for his fashion sense, with Cruz having attended a Houston Rockets play-off game wearing a “super cool t-shirt over the polo look”. In good natured fun, Cruz took to Twitter to challenge Kimmel to settle this spat “man to man”.
. @jimmykimmel All right, Big Guy…you talk a good game. You besmirched my support for the @HoustonRockets ???? So let’s settle this man-to-man: one-on-one, hoops (or “ring-ball,” if you prefer). The loser gives $5k to the (non-political) charity of the winner’s choice. https://t.co/BWvAP5VOtM
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 31,2018
Kimmel entitled the showdown the “Blobfish Basketball Classic”, poking fun at the Republican Senator’s prominent nose and distinctive facial features.
Kimmel has been notoriously and vocally embittered by an extant political scenario which finds him at odds with the current administration as well as the half of the country that supports the President and his policies, frequently using his TV show as a platform from which to launch vicious monologues against his critics.
Regardless of public opinion on the two men or the opposing ideologies that they represent, it did appear as if both Kimmel and Cruz were genuinely united in their support for charity and community service during the so-called “Blobfish Basketball Classic”, with Cruz gamely smiling in response to Kimmel’s incisive insults – which drew a cheer from the crowd – before taking him to the net.
Despite the high profile of the impromptu game, it was cut short for running overtime, originally scheduled as the first to 15 points. There has been no word as to whether a rematch is in the works.
